Update for Monday, 18 June 



On the sixth day of UNFF-1, delegates met in an afternoon Plenary to hear general remarks on progress made and work remaining at UNFF-1. Following Plenary, delegates met into two working groups to negotiate the draft decisions on the MYPOW and the PoA.

PLENARY



The US underscored the need to clarify the relationship between the MYPOW, the PoA and the CPF and to decide whether actions would be set out in the MYPOW or the PoA. Expressing concern that the draft PoA seems to be a draft plan for a PoA, she commented that it does not make clear who would take or facilitate what action and what the purpose of the action would be.

JAPAN emphasized the need for further work on the PoA, noting that the draft PoA seems to be a guidance paper for countries to develop PoAs. He said that negotiations this week must focus on developing the international aspects of the PoA.

IUCN/WWF urged the establishment of targets and timetables. She proposed that, to build the UNFF’s credibility early on, issues that are most ripe for implementation, have the best chances of success in the coming year, and have examples of best practices be discussed at UNFF-2.

The GLOBAL FOREST POLICY PROJECT suggested crafting an agenda or schedule for each UNFF session. He recommended identifying the means of implementing the proposals for action, the impediments to implementation, and concrete strategies to address these issues, then creating a map identifying the desired products of each session.

UNFF Coordinator Jag Maini (Left) urged delegates to focus on what the provisional agendas for the subsequent sessions ought to be. He reminded them that there are five different target audiences of the proposals for action: countries, the ITFF (now the CPF), the private sector, other international organizations and NGOs.